The election after the election, how liberty took hold in the NH State House

[Keith and stuff]

The Election After the Elections, How Liberty Took Hold in the NH State House

It's true that the 2010 State House election results were the best ever for liberty candidates in New Hampshire. Around 14 Free State Project participants were elected. Dozens of libertarians were elected. Almost everyone the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance endorsed won. However, it is also clear that not all of the 298 GOPers (to 102 Dems) that control the NH State House are pro-liberty the vast majority of the time. Even though the GOP is far better in NH than almost any other state, there are still problems.

The State Reps voted for Speaker of the House. It was a close race against a typical GOPer with a lot of experience and a generally pro-liberty GOPer that hangs out with the NHLA and helped co-chair the House Republican Alliance, the organization of NH State GOP Reps that are fiscally libertarian/conservative and are generally socially conservative. Bill O'Brien (A- rating by the NHLA), the HRA co-chair, became NH Speaker of the House by less than 10 votes. Normally, the Speaker of the House picks the Majority Leader. However, 2 of the 3 top people that wanted to be Majority Leader were highly pro-liberty and O'Brien decided to let the State Reps vote on it. D.J. Bettencourt (B+ rating by the NHLA) the most pro-liberty person running for Majority Leader, won the election.

Other people in the NH State House leadership include:
Gene Chandler (B+ rating by the NHLA)
Alfred Baldasaro (A- rating by the NHLA)
Jennifer Coffey (A rating by the NHLA)
Paul Ingbretson (A- rating by the NHLA)
Pamela Tucker (B+ rating by the NHLA)
http://www.nhliberty.org/sites/defau...ng_rev0711.pdf

This is the most pro-liberty State House leadership in the modern history of NH. I know it may be hard to understand this so I'll use the US Senate as an example.

Imagine if Jim DeMint was in charge of the US Senate. Rand Paul was #3 and Tom Coburn was #4. That's what just happened in NH. And this wasn't a coup or anything as the majority of the State Reps in NH voted these guys to be their leadership. I cannot promise what will happen in NH over the next two years but I'm sure it will be more interesting than what happens in the state legislatures of every other state combined.

Bonus:
Some NH State Reps decided that they wanted to create a group that is even more pro-liberty than the House Republican Alliance so they created the Natural Rights Caucus. From the website, "The Natural Rights Caucus was founded last week by Representatives-elect Seth Cohn (Canterbury), JR Hoell (Dunbarton), George Lambert (Litchfield), Andrew J. Manuse (Derry), Daniel Tamburello (Londonderry) and Mark Warden (Goffstown). Former Rep. Don Gorman will be an ex-officio member of the caucus who will serve as its legislative counselor." These are libertarians and heck, Don Gorman is even one of the best know Libertarian Party members in New England. You may remember him. He is the Libertarian that was a state rep in NH when he lead the Libertarian Caucus in the NH House in the 1990s.
http://naturalrightscaucus.org/

[nate895]

Maybe the modern history, but I don't think the NH State House in 1776 was any less "anti-liberty."

[Keith and stuff]

Maybe the modern history, but I don't think the NH State House in 1776 was any less "anti-liberty."

I made some changes, including your tip.

[Thomas]

awesome! how can we maintain this? how can we help?

[Keith and stuff]

awesome! how can we maintain this? how can we help?

The best way to help is to help fund the NHLA. The NHLA only endorses the people with the most pro-liberty voting records or that answered the NHLA survey with very pro-liberty answers. The NHLA gives money to those it endorses. The more money the NHLA has, the money money it can give to the best candidates and the more likely the candidates are to win their elections.

http://www.nhliberty.org/donate

Or, you could join the NHLA and maybe eventually start rating NH bills from where you are. The NHLA rates all NH bills on how pro-liberty they are and gives the results both to the general public and to the legislatures, making sure they understand the pro-liberty position on the major bills.
http://www.nhliberty.org/join

[HardyMacia]

awesome! how can we maintain this? how can we help?

Or for those how are tired of their state, join the Free State Project, move to NH and get involved on the ground :-)

www.freestateproject.org

[Keith and stuff]

If anyone wants to know more about the House Republican Alliance, here is a 3 part video series about the group.
YouTube - House Republican Alliance NH Pt. 1

[cbc58]

If there are any NH liberty officials reading this forum, or you have contact with them, please look into changing the current use taxation law in NH. If people who own over 10 acres want tax breaks for their land, they can put it into a conservation easement. It makes no sense for someone owning 8.5 acres to be paying $2500 in taxes, while someone owning 11 acres pays $500 (results vary by area). Help get property taxes down in NH and more liberty minded folks will move there.

[Elwar]

That kicks ass...I remember being involved on the Free State Project forums when they were first coming up with the idea of a Liberty Index. I even created a few Excel spreadsheets to show that just 2,000 liberty activists in the right districts could turn the elections around and have all liberty candidates win.

[hazek]

I just wish they could achieve what they tried in Montana: http://www.montanasoundmoney.org/